SUNGAI PETANI: Dutch sprinter Arvid de Kleijn is relishing his ongoing rivalry with Italian Matteo Malucelli at Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) narrowly finished second to Malucelli in the LTdL points classification (orange jersey) by a mere two points last year.
The duo have not taken long to resume their rivalry.
The pair split the first two stages this year between them with Malucelli (XDS Astana) winning the first stage (Langkawi round island), forcing de Kleijn to settle for third just behind Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility).
De Kleijn, however, turned the tables on Malucelli in the second stage (Padang Besar to Kepala Batas). De Kleijn won with Malucelli taking second place this time.
Malucelli now leads the orange jersey competition on 27 points with de Kleijn a close second (24 points).
De Kleijn, who now has five LTdL stage wins under his belt since debuting here in 2023, is looking forward to continuing their rivalry.
“It is nice to see that we are both in shape. He won yesterday (Sunday) and I won today (Monday),” said de Kleijn yesterday.
“I told him ‘let’s continue this in the coming days’.
“I feel that it is a fair battle. It is nice to see that two sprinters, who are both really small (physically), can be fast here and be on top when it comes to the sprints.”
De Kleijn and Malucelli are on the smaller side compared to their European counterparts. Both are 1.71 metres tall.
LTdL legend Andrea Guardini, who amassed a record 24 LTdL stage wins throughout his career, was a similar height, standing at 1.75 metres tall.
De Kleijn is hoping he can emulate Guardini and continue to rack up more LTdL stage wins in the coming years.
“Yes, maybe I am going to try to beat it (Guardini record), you never know,” said de Kleijn.
“I hope there are still more years to come, 24 stage wins is a lot but we will see how it goes.”
Guardini, who retired in 2021, was so synonymous with LTdL that he was given the nickname “Mr Langkawi”.
– NST
